Toy airplane landing gear



Dec. 9, 1930.

H. T. KINGSBURY 'roY AIRPLAN LANDING GEAR 2 Sheets-Sheet l Original Filed June 19, 1923 Dec. 9, 19301, Hfr. KINGSBURY 1,734,730

` TOY AIRPLANE LANDINGY GEAR Original Filed June 19, 192s .2 sheets-sheet 2 Patented Dec. 9, 1930 srrss Unirse `TOY AIRPLANE LANDING GEAR ,l

original application med :rune-19, 1929, serial No. 372,128. Divided ana this 7, 1930. serial No. 419,112.A

' rlhis invention relates to improvements in toy airplanes, and more particularly concerns details of construction and 7assemblage of such devices.

rllhis application is a division of my copending application Serial No. 372,128, led June 19, 1929 on toy airplane; ,and likewise has for an object to provide a toyV airplane with a light body portion having its members 1o rigidly assembled and to which the undercarriage, wings, elevator and rudder members maybe quickly and elastically attached, and from which they may be disconnected for ease in packing. .i

Another object of the` present invention Ais tol provide .improvements in theundercarriage construction and assemblage with respect to the body which enables a simple and cheap manufacture of 1this portion, and an ease in mounting upon the body, Valong with a functioning elasticity, in` such manner that when the plane vcomes to ground, the'underframe and associated parts yieldy to the impact -withoutbreakage 1 v f f A further object of the invention is to provide simple Vand Vrigid brace means for the body to enable it to support the strains of the band motor and of impact of any part of the device with the ground or an obstacle. j

Still another object of the invention isv to provide a simple and cheap mounting for a rear wheel, so that the toy` airplanewill require less power' and less distance of travel when running for a take-od. c

With these and other objects in `view, as will appear in theV course of the following specification and claims, illustrative examples of the construction employed have been 0 set forth on.theaccompanyingdrawinga in which:

Figure 1 is a planV view of the assembled airplane. Fig. 2 is a corresponding side elevation.

Fig. 3 is a vertical longitudinal section subthe mountingof the rear-wheel. Y

-is formed by from sheet metal stantially on line 3-3 of Fig. 1, upon an enapplication l'ed January PATENT OFFICE.

Fig. 5 is a detailperspective view of a por- Y tionof the undercarriage assembly;

"Fig: 6 is a corresponding view of a modified form of undercarriage assembly.

In thel drawings, the body comprises the two spars 10, 11 which extend longitudinally thereof and areslightly bowed from end toend so thattheir greatest distance apart is substantially at the point of attachment of the wings. `At the fro-nt the ends of the spars 10, 11 are joined by a sheet metal clip 12 which folding a sheet of metal to vprovide sleeves 13 fitted overthe ends ofthe respective spars 10, 11, the whole clip being bent into U-shape as seen in Fig. 1, .with the central portion reinforced by the flanges 14 and provided with an aperture for the passage of the driving shaft 15 for the propeller. The sleeves 13 at their rear ends have each a projecting ear 16 spaced` from vthe llower surface of the respective spar 10'or 11. .in-

termediate their length thesparsfare providj ed with across brace' 17 likewise formed with reinforcing flanges and provided at the ends with the sleeves 18 which are fitted-about the respective spars 10, 11 and preferablyfa-re heldthereto by indentations 19 whichdepress theinner wall of the sleeve 18 intofthe structure of the re# spective spar.v VThe connecting part of the A metal-brace 17 is curved downwardv toy afford clearance for the band motor M. The forward ends of the sleeves 18 are provided with ears 2O whichare spaicedjfrom the lower surfaces of the s'pars-lO, 11.

vThe lrearends of the spars 10,--11 are connected 'by Ea clip 21 having the sleeves'22 formed 'atgthefends Vthereofto receive. the spars 10, 11v and being iixedly connected thereto. Theends ofthe sleeves 22 project beyond theends' of thespars, and the. wardly direct'edfaces of the clipat thispoint are perforated tor receive the axle pin 23 of the rear wheel R, which is receivedA between the sleeves 22 in the VU-shaped clip V21 i (Fig. 4), while the walls of the sleeves 22'are crimped down to preventlengthwise move'- lnent of the-pin 23. The lcentral portion of thev U-shaped clip 21 is provided with two apertures through which passes, the fixed rear stay 24 for the band motor M, as shown in Fig. 4, whereby this stay is prevented from movement about its own axis.

The undercarriage comprises the aXle shaft which passes through the front wheels F so that these wheels mayV rotate freely therearound, andV is provided with bent ends to prevent the wheels from coming off this axle. The undercarriage strut construction comprises al single piece of wire', substantially symmetrical about the central vertical longitudinal axis of the airship. TheY r inwardly to form the rear struts 28, at the` upper ends of which the vwireportions just described are joined by the integral bridge 29 having a relative downwardly convex curvature to avoid the band motor M, and being providedv with loops to fit between the ears 20 and the respective spars 10, 11 (Figs. 1 and k3), the angle between the-'planes of the curved portion 29 and of the rear struts 28 being such as tol prevent lateral movement of the strut at its reark end.: A retaining or stop member 30V is likewise formed of -wire with symmetrical ends yeach comprising a bent portionlterminating in aneye 32V fitting about the axle 25..

Thewire strutrmember is formed so that the convolutions 27 ,act as a torsion spring to force the strut members 26, 28 relatively away from one another Y1n Fig. 2, so that when theundercarriage isremoved from the body, it'preferably hasthe struts 26 and 28 substantially in a plane for easy packing. To assemble the undercarriage to thebody the struts 26, 28 arecompressed'beyond the position shown in Fig. 2, and the rear bridge 29 is slipped betweenv the ears 20and the spars 10, 11. Thefront ends 26a are then slipped between the respectivejclips 16 and spars 10, 11. The torsional effect of the convolutions 27 willnow hold the undercarriage fixedly tothe body." In alighting on thev ground, the weightof the body'coming upon the struts 26, 28 will forcefthe convolutions 27 downward slightly, with a springy `yielding of the axle 25; the stop member SOpreventsythe spreadingof the convolutions 27 laterally under such conditions and thus prevents a binding orfbraking of the front wheels F. y f

rIhe wing Aassembly comprises the two symmetrically formed wing surfaces 33, 34 which are curved upwardly as usual, and are preferably formed of thin veneer wood. The

front edges of these wings are protected by reinforcing strips 35, and the curvature of the wings is preferably maintained by the provision of channel shaped sheet metal ribs 38 having ends 39 bent over the edges of the wings to hold the ribs in position. The two wings 33,84 arejoined at their centers at a diedral angle by the thin sheet metal plates 40, 41 which lit over the undersurface of the wings and are secured together v,by eyelets 42y which are formed from the member 40 and pass through the wing surfaces to be clamped to the member 41. This produces a very simple, light and cheap assembly. The wings are held in position by wing block wires 46 which connect the light -wood blocks and byrubber bands 48 passed around sak the respective spars from beneath, and over the blocks 45 to hold the blocks and wings together. It will be noted that since the rubber band is under tension, it tends topull the blocks 45 slightly closer together, thus engaging them against the edges ofthe wing and holdin@F the wing in an adjusted posi` tion.

Y The elevator 50` is preferably of a thinV sheet of veneer wood out-to appropriateshape and mounted loosely upon the spars 10, l1.A The rudder 5 1 is likewise preferably of thin veneer woodcut to a desired sha-pe and pro-y vided at its bottom with a sheet metal reinforcing-member comprising the lugs 54, 55 which restk upon the'elevator andv serve to hold therudder in its proper upright posi- Y tionRubber bands 58 pass around beneath the spars 10,- 11 and over the top of the ele-` vator, being respectively passed over the elekvator and the lugs 54, 55 -of* the rudder,"so

that they serve not only to hold the elevator in position, but also to maintain the rudder uPOIl the elevator.

The propeller is formed of twopieces of metal 100, 101 having peripheral stiffening beads 102 by whichthe parts are secured together in mutually overlapping relationship.

The shaft 15 at the front end -of the band motor M is passed through the propelleriat its axis,fand hais a rebent end to' assure thev proper rotation of thevshaft and propeller togethen Y Y In lare modified oml of Xie assembly shown in Fig. 6, the axle 25al is provided with rebentv and offset V'ends-"25h to receivel the wheels, the oset portion 31a itself vproviding a stop for limiting the spreading movel ment ofi the 'coils 27 which join the struts 26 .and128. f v f Y v 1 Itis obvious that the invention isnot'lim` ited to the form .of construction shown vand described, but thatit may be modified `in many ways within the scope of the appended claims.'l

, front and rear lateral struts and joined be-V i What I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is: f

1. In a toy airplane,longitudinally extending body spars having ears mounted thereon, and an undercarriage comprising front and rear parts and including means to force the upper ends of such parts resiliently away from one another, the upper portions of said parts being engaged by said ears and held in engagement therewith by such resilience.

2. A toy airplane as in claim 1, in which the undercarriage has said parts formed of wire with convolutions between the same to form a spring for said resiliency, and an axle journaled in said convolutions.

3. In a toy airplane, an undercarriage comprising a bent piece of wire. forming the tween the struts on either side by convolutions of the wire, an axle journaled in said convolutions, and a spread-preventing bar having a loop fitting around the axle outside of each `convolution whereby to `prevent the lateral spread of the convolutions under load.

4f. In a toy airplane, a pair of longitudinally extending and laterally spaced body spars, transverse reinforcing members connecting said spars and provided with ears,

and an undercarriage comprising front and rear parts and'including means'to force the' upper ends of said parts resiliently away from one another, the upper portions of said parts being engaged by said ears and held inV engagement therewith by such resilience.

5. In a toy airplane, longitudinally extending and laterally spaced body spars,trans verse metal stifening members connected to and holding said body spars spacedv apart and including integrally-formed downwardly depending ears, and an undercarriage comprising front and rear parts and including means to force the upper ends of said parts resiliently away from one another, the upper portions of said parts being engaged by said 5 ears and held in engagement therewith by such resilience.

In testimony whereof, I aix my signature. i

HARRY T. KINGSBURY. 

